Gino's East Pizza Crust - Page 2

I made a deep dish pizza last night from a recipe I learned from Pizzamaking.com. It is supposedly quite close to the Lou Malnati's crust. Like the last poster pointed out, it has high oil to flour ratio. This recipe was 23%. The crust, however came out light and crunchy, but not greasy. It was darn good if I say so myself. It was also my first try, so I'm extra happy about it. I'm going to IL this weekend and am planning to eat at Lou's, then I'll know how I did with the crust.

Wikipedia Needs YOU!

I recently found out that Wikipedia has a page for "Chicago Style Pizza". I don't know who is editing the content on it but it needs some help.

There are some things on there that are right on but other statements make you wonder if the editors are from Chicago or if they have ever tried the various pizzas in Chicagoland.

A few people here could really make some improvements to the page to make it more accurate. I would do it but you guys really know your stuff ... So go and set the record straight!

BTW I made my version of Lou's after reading this thread and getting the craving. Most of the recipes listed here are basically what I do. I use 2 parts water to 1 part canola oil and real butter combo. And I use 3 parts flour to 1 part semolina. The sauce is basically whole peeled tomatoes (packed in puree) that is handcrushed and sprinkled with grated parmesan.

Also someone asked about using or adapting this dough for thin crust pizza but IMHO this is not right. These recipes are best for pan pizza. Thin crust calls for a less flaky and more chewy dough. Except for very thin crust which should be cracker-like.

I'm jumping in kind of late, but Tony Manutano is chef in a good Italian place in Kenosha called Mangia. (My husband and I ate there the day we got our marriage license. :D) I believe it was his cousin that started the business in a former gas station.

The food is consistently excellent in my experience. They were the first to have a wood-fired oven between Milwaukee and Chicago, I think, when they opened more than 15 years ago. (I lived in Kenosha for 18 years. Pizza's the thing there. You can have a different style every day for a year, and it's almost all great pizza.)

Worked like a charm!!

I'm definitely chiming in very late (I see the last post was in January of this year ..)

Basically, a little about me: I'm a pizza LOVER!! I was born and raised and currently live in Chicago, and nothing (for me) beats (in this order, of best to second best): Gino's East, Lou Malnati's, Uno's/Due's, Giordanno's.

I've have been perfecting my pizza dough recipe for about 10 years now, and have NEVER experimented (let alone KNEW about) cold fermentation. Spinnybobo's recipe is one of several I've tried recently to get to my favorite pizza recipe --> Gino's East.

Spinny's recipe is spot on (in my honest opinion).

I added all of the ingredients spinny suggested, I used the 95:5 (corn:extra virgin olive) oil ratio, and I used the cream of tartar (McCormick). The only thing I didn't use was the food coloring (i surely would have used it if it had ANYthing AT ALL to do with taste, and since it was strictly for looks, i decided to pass on it).

Here's what I did with timing, and I think this was CRITICAL to my success:

If I was going to serve my fresh, deep dish pizza at 7pm on Friday evening, I prepared my dough on Wednesday at 5pm. I mixed all the ingredients (I only had to used about 2.5 cups of bread flour, not the whole 3 cups) starting at 5pm. I used 1 T of rapid rise yeast and 1 tsp of sugar and placed this in 110 degree water and let this sit until a nice frothy foam developed on top of the water/yeast/sugar mixture (about 5 minutes). I then mixed this into the remaining ingredients. I made sure to add flour very very very slowly (I do not have a kitchen aide, so i did this by hand initially with a wisk) until I absolutely had to continue to mix in flour with my hand.

As mentioned above, I only ended up using 2.5-2.75 cups of bread flour (makes enough for ONE nine-inch deep dish pizza) and began to knead it after all the ingredients were mixed. As Spinny mentioned, I kneaded meticulously for a total of 10 minutes, no more, no less. By the time the kneading was done, the dough was tacky/sticky, but no dough stuck to my fingers or the countertop. I then heavily oiled a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, placed the dough in there, and covered it with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel. I then placed it in an area of the kitchen that is a bit warmer than room temp (it's close to the fridge, so the heat from the back of the fridge helps the fermentation process).

I let the dough rise from 5pm on wednesday (when i made it) to the next day (thursday) at 11 am when I then placed it in the refrigerator. I did not punch down the dough at ANY time. Sometimes, while manipulating the bowl (i.e. when moving it temporarily or when placing it into the fridge, the dough level would drop down a little -- no big deal). I never actively punched it down.

Now, on friday, the day of baking --> I pull the dough out of the fridge at 3pm and let it get up to room temperature. Around 5pm, I pull the dough out of the bowl, flour my countertop, and then evenly roll the dough into a circle that is 1/3 - 1/4 inch thick. The dough will be very fragile, so take care to flour it up while manipulating it so that it won't stick to the counter top or itself and then rip. I then VERY carefully dropped it onto and into my NINE 9" inch deep dish pan (non-stick, bottom drops out, purchased from Target) which is HEAVILY lathered in extra virgin olive oil. I pinch the dough at the top and use any excess to fill in/seal holes that occured in the dough while dropping it into the dish (if you're careful, you won't have any, but if you do, do not worry).

I then sprinkled a nice even layer of Romano cheese (aged, dried) on the entire base of the dough so that the entire bottom is evenly covered with a layer of the Romano. I then filled the dish with mozzarella (Lucerne) cheese until about 1/2 of the dish was filled with Mozzarella (it's a lot of cheese but TOTALLY worth it and necessary). I then added my other toppings. I made sure to sprinkle all my toppings with some mozzarella and Romano cheese as I added them so it pulled everything together when it baked. I finally added my custom pizza sauce (see recipe below) to the top.

Baking: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place in the MIDDLE rack, and bake for exactly 40 minutes, no more, no less. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve and enjoy.

This pizza sauce is good enough for TWO nine 9" inch deep dish pizzas. So only use 1/2 of it for one pizza. Too much sauce will kill the pizza, so resist the urge to add more.

I thank Spinnybobo for the AWESOME dough recipe -- it's got that famous beer taste that Gino's has, as well the exact texture/crispiness -- almost that biscuit like texture in addition to the right amount of oil taste. It's beautiful.

The golden color of Chicago deep dish pizza comes from a food coloring called "egg shade". The cornmeal myth seems to stem from a recipe published years ago by Jeff Smith, which isn't even close to how authentic Chicago deep dish is made, but which has been promulgated widely on the Internet.

Okay I must do this! Pizza is my religion and this is my mission!
What sort of deep dish black pan is best? I don't want to bake with
aluminium. Any recommendations?
Home Shopping Network is selling Gino's East pizzas. Two 9 inch pies
for 25.00 with a 13.00 shipping charge. Too spendy for me, so I
will be a dough slinger and a tomato squisher for the very first time.
I can not wait!!!!
Thanks all.

what did i do wrong?

I used the recipe posted by Dancer ( on the first page) and all I got was bread. It was a good crust, and I made enough dough to make a deep dish and a 'thin' crust for the kids, but it wasnt Ginos. What did I do wrong? Let it rise too many times? I used regular flour, and followed the directions. :-(

I've moved from the chicago area recently and really need my ginos fix!! help!

Gluten Free?

I hate to throw a monkey wrench into this discussion especially b/c I likely won't be back to participate, but I believe that Gino's East is gluten free. My gf and her father can eat it with no side effects. And they both have sensitivity even to spelt flour.

I just made my first ever trip to Chicago this past week and on Sunday ate at the original Gino's East. Marvelous pizza!

As soon as I got home I started looking for a copycat of the recipe, so I tried this. Very good pie indeed.

Here is what I found different (since it was just 5 days ago I had this it is still fresh in my memory).

My pie was not as thick on the bottom crust, in fact it came out fairly thin. I almost wonder if the grease from the pepperoni didn't mess with it.

The crust did not have the cornmeal like grit in it. I know others have said Gino's does not use cornmeal, but there IS something in it that makes it gritty.

It needed more cheese. When we cut into our pie at Gino's, it was stringy with cheese. Tonight's had cheese there, but did not stretch (maybe it was absorbed into the crust somewhat?)

Finally 28 oz was way too much sauce. I have a 15 inch pan and we used about 3/4 of the recipe and it was still too thick. I am going to try 14 oz next time.

Finally, I live in Kansas, the void of the world. The only tomatoes I could find were Hunt's. I used your recipe for the sauce and it was WAY too sweet. When we ate there this past week, it tasted more like a spaghetti sauce on their pie. So I added some spaghetti sauce seasoning and it was perfect. I am sure if I had a better brand of tomatoes, such as 6 in 1 available to me, it would make a big difference. I am going to need to look around.

In all though, I was very happy with it. This was a great recipe. Thanks for sharing your legwork with us.:bounce:

i would like to know more about the dough conditioner since there are several and how to use it on the dough. do they add it to the dough when the flour is being mixed or do they add it to the dough afterwards?

Here is my shot at it using Spinny'bobos recipe and Caputo Tipo '00' flour:

Coming from Detroit, I only have Detroit style pans similar to what is used by Buddy's Pizza. I think it turned out well. I'll have to let it cook a little longer next time. I made a Spinach/Mushroom/Feta as well.

I am a pizza lover also and also making my own pizza crust for my pizza. Well, I haven't tried any of Gino's pizza but I'll try the crust recipe of Dancer because I was intrigue of the cornmeal taste of the crust. That for the recipe and info. :)

Oh, you people are making me hungry! last time I was in Chicago, (Niles) I had a mindset that I was going to get to Gino's this time. Last few times the clerk at my hotel talked me into Lou's pizza. But one thing and another, I didn't make it to Gino's. No hardship, I really like Lou's. Thanks to everyone for all the pizza crust info. I've been searching for a really wonderful crust.

I'm not sure a special pan is called for. I get around needing a black pan by putting the springform pan I make mine in (used for quiches) very close to the pizza stone I have in the bottom of my oven at all times. I believe there is extra heat that way on the bottom (not sides, but the sides of my springform pan are golden where the bottom is shiny. It turns out good, but if you are a perfectionist, go ahead and go for the special pan.

DD

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprynkles

Okay I must do this! Pizza is my religion and this is my mission!
What sort of deep dish black pan is best? I don't want to bake with
aluminium. Any recommendations?

I don't understand why the Cream of Tarter is in there. I know it is used with items that need baking powder or soda to rise. What advantage is the acidic property of Cream of Tarter in a yeast mixture??? I use it when whipping egg whites or heavy cream, but I don't understand what it does to yeast. Does it affect the texture? What?

Mix for 1 minute; knead for two minutes. Then let rise at room temperature for at least 6 hours (the dough ball will not rise as much as normal dough, due to less yeast distribution and the heavy oil). You can do a longer refrigerator rise, if you like.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then you can either roll it out (like Giordano’s—they use a sheeter), or press it into the pan by hand. Then layer in the cheese, toppings, and cover with sauce. You can put on a thin top layer (to make a “stuffed” pizza, if you like—but the sauce goes on last).

Bake at 450 for around 30 minutes (your oven will vary). I like to start mine out on the bottom rack, then move it to the middle rack after half the time. You can par-bake the crust, too, before addign toppings.

For the sauce, use good quality crushed tomatoes (Giordano’s uses 6-in-1) or crush whole peeled canned tomatoes by hand and drain the juice (as Uno’s and Malnati’s does). Add salt, sugar, and spices to your taste.